Exploramania has a unique concept with their GyMathtics DVD, incorporate math concepts and learning with exercise. If you’ve ever used an exercise DVD enough so that you’ve memorized every word, inflection and pause, you understand that this is a brilliant idea. If you have a child who enjoys learning while sitting upside down, you may be thinking, “Some exercise in the middle of school time might be a great thing”.

GyMathtics is designed for 2nd-5th graders, because of the math concepts that are presented, but I think that the music and style of the program is more suited for younger children. The DVD is 30 minutes long and includes:

Shape Stretches Warm up – Different shapes and geometric concepts are introduced as children stretch and warm up.

Counting Calisthenics – Children count forward, back and skip count as they get their heart rate up.

Pattern Power – The children focus on following patterns as they do push ups, crunches and other muscle strengthening moves.

Well-Being Wind Down – As the children cool down the DVD reminds them to make healthy choices.

The math concepts are spoken as well as displayed on the screen during the exercises.So that the children can see and hear what is being taught.

Each exercise is explained and demonstrated by the instructor and several children helpers so that your children are able to easily follow what exercises they should be doing. The exercises incorporate the math concepts with the exercises by using your body and arms to create lines and shapes, counting as you move and using different movements to create repetitive patterns. This enables the children to learn even more quickly.

What we thought:

Most of our children love doing GyMathtics and it is a nice break from the traditional be-still-and-quiet of the school day. I think that the tone and voice of the video is geared toward younger children and can seem a bit tedious to children who are at the high end of the age range.

The repetitive and active nature of exercise makes it easy for the children to focus and memorize the math concepts. Including the visual on screen is an additional help to retention.

Pros:

I really like the concept of introducing math concepts with exercise

Using your body to create shapes make this concrete for even young children

It adds nice variety to the school day

All of the little children down to the one year old enjoyed GyMathtics, so thumbs up for multi-level

Using visual, auditory and kinesthetic to teach, GyMathtics will help all learning styles

Cons:

Perhaps it is our average sized TV in an over-sized room, but we found the numerals VERY hard to read (see the yellow screen above)

The tone and voice of the video makes it less appealing to children at the top of the age range or older.

The cool down section came across as new age-y. The music and voice combination sound as if they are trying to be hypnotize the children.

All of our younger children really enjoy GyMathtics and ask to do it often. This is a nice addition to our educational arsenal.

Wow! For younger kids this sounds really good. My 6 year old is struggling with math and I bet a lot…(If I were a betting woman, that is!)…that she would learn better if we could make it active. Thanks for the honest review. If it wasn’t so high priced I would consider buying it.